welcome

“…whatever success I have had has been through writing what I know about.”

— Ernest Hemingway

education

I loved it when my daughter asked me why I was going back to college to study poetry. It gave me a great opportunity to explain to her that education is a lifelong experience. And it can come in many forms from all sorts of places. Some of the most valuable experiences won’t even come with a formal certificate, but that’s okay. Learning is learning. Click here to learn about a few of my educational experiences.

the united states navy

I served in the United States Navy from January 1986 to February 1990 as a Cryptologic Technician Operator (CTO). In plain English, that translates to a lot of high-tech intelligence-related technical duties. I was responsible for circuit and…. Click here for additional military service information.

corporate america

I've been a professional writer since 1986, when I joined the United States Navy and worked as a cryptologist for four years. After earning an undergraduate degree in Print Journalism with a minor in English, I took a position as a general assignment reporter for a small paper in rural Tennessee. Then, the Internet and its World Wide Web arrived. In 1994, I combined my technology training from the military with my reporting skills and spent the next 30-odd years writing in the corporate workforce in such positions as technical writer, project manager, marketing coordinator, marketing director, and Webmaster. Click here for a complete corporate work history.

Door Number Three:
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overview

I hold a Master of Fine Arts degree and a Post-Master’s Certificate in Writing Enrichment, both from the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing at Spalding University. I have been nominated for both the Paul Engle Prize and AWP’s George Garrett Award for Outstanding Service in Literature for my work with The Writer’s Loft low-residency certificate program (now known as MTSU Write) and the literary journal 2nd & Church. A Kentucky native and longtime Nashvillian, I’ve been an adjunct English professor at Western Kentucky University (WKU), in Bowling Green, Kentucky since 2008.

For the past three decades, I’ve worked as a technical communicator in the IT industry, spanning communications management (branding/messaging, marketing plans, etc.), technology administration (website content creation/design and IT coordination), product development and desktop publishing (annual reports, newsletters, etc.), and public-facing functions (interviewing, event planning, social media, and press releases).